Variable speed gearing



u 1936' E. G. BAER ET AL 0 2,5 VARIABLE SPEED GEARING Filed Jan. 19, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dora G 0e? FIX? 1" V \\\k Q I Z June 1936- E. G. BAER ET AL VARIABLE SPEED GEARING' 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan; 19, 1935 J ne 2, 1936 E. ca. BAER ET AL VARIABLE SPEED GEARING Filed. Jan. 19, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 1 1, 3mm k 7 d EdbDOYd G309," up firfbur 51 17pm" Patented June 2, 1936 UNITED STATES VARIABLE SPEED GEARING Edward G. Baer and Arthur B. Fisher, Orrville, Ohio Application January 19, 1935, Serial No. 2,592 2 Claims. (01. 74 363) This invention relates to variable speed gear transmission especially designed for stoker use.

A primary object of the invention is to construct a gear case having a number of different reduced ear speeds, accomplished by a minimum of moving parts which may be arranged in a small compact unit.

Another object is to so construct such a unit that the gears will be always in mesh thereby avoiding all danger of stripping o-r clashing of the gears when changing from one speed to another.

Another object is to construct the gear case so that the speeds may be changed with ease when the motor is either operating or idle, and which provides a positive and continuous drive and which prevents any possibility of skipping any teeth.

Another object is to provide a transmission of this character which may have any number of speed changes. a

In carrying out these objects the invention is susceptible of modifications without departing from the spirit or sacrificing. any of the advantages of the claimed invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a horizontal section taken on the line II of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is detail end View showing the shear p Fig. 5 is an end view taken from the right of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section showing the shifting feature of the gear transmission;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of a modified form; and

Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view.

In the embodiment illustrated a gear casing I has bearings 2 and 3 at opposite sides. A shaft 4 is mounted in these bearings 2 and 3 and projects beyond gear casing I at both ends. On one end of shaft 4, outside of easing I, a pulley 5 is mounted while on the other end of said shaft 4, outside of casing I a fan blower 6 is mounted and provides air necessary for combustion. A motor, not shown, is conveniently situated and connected to pulley 5 by a belt 1 or other suitable means. Inside casing I shaft 4 carries a worm 8 which engages and drives a worn wheel 9 mounted to rotate freely upon a conveyor driving shaft I 9. A gear I2 is fixed to the hub I I of worm wheel 9, and

shaft I is provided with a suitable thrust bearing I3. As illustrated in Fig. 1 a bushing I 4 is mounted upon shaft I0 and worm wheel 9 is mounted to run loosely upon bushing I4. A spacing sleeve I carried by shaft I0 contacts at one end with bushing I4 and at the other end with a bearing sleeve I6 also on shaft Ill. A gear I! is fixed to bearing sleeve I6 opposite worm wheel 9 inside casing I. This bearing sleeve I6 projects thru the wall of casing I and on its outer end is provided with clutch teeth as indicated at I8, Fig. 1. A collar l9 having complementary clutch teeth in engagement with the clutch teeth on sleeve I6 is mounted upon shaft I9 outside of casing I.

A shearing pin 23 is passed thru alining holes in clutch collar I9 and conveyor driving shaft II]. It is intended that this shearing pin be made of some substance which will break and stop the driving of the conveyor before it is damaged should a piece of iron, a bone, a stone or any other unyielding'substance get into the coal carried by the conveyor. Upon the breaking of shearing pin 23 all the driving mechanism up to and including collar I9 will run idly until another shearing pin be inserted to re-connect the clutch collar I 9 with shaft I 0.

In the form illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 a jack shaft 25 upon which transmission gears 26, 21, 28 and 29 are keyed, is shown. Gear 26 is in constant engagement with gear I2 on hub I I of worm wheel 9 and gears 21, 28 and 29 are also always in mesh respectively with selective gears 32, 33 and 34 rotatably mounted on a drum 3i. This drum 3| is mounted upon shaft 30 to which it is held fixedly by selective pawls 40, 4| and 42. Shaft 39 is bored thruout the greater part of its length producing a-hollow cylinder in which is mounted a cylinder 38 which near its inner end is cut away leaving a greatly reduced pawl actuating portion or cam 39.

Drum 3| and hollow shaft 30 have holes drilled in alinement with gears 32; 33 and 34. In this case the drilled holes are spaced 120 apart circumferentially to provide a symmetrical spacing where three gears are used, but if two gears were employed the spacing would be preferably 180; if four gears were employed the spacing would be preferably 90 and so on. A

For a short way inward from the outer surface of drum 3| the drilled holes are enlarged by counterboring at 43 and the walls of the counterbored part are screw-threaded for the reception of an exteriorly threaded ring 44. A sliding pawl having an enlarged cam head 46 is placed in each bore thru the drum 3| and hollow shaft 30. Projecting from each head 46 is a stem 41, sufficiently small to accommodate a coiled spring 48 between the stem 41 and the wall of the drilled hole and to pass thru ring 44 seated in counter-bore 43.

To assemble this selective mechanism the drilled holes in shaft 30 and drum 3| are brought into registration and a pawl is placed in these holes head first, a spring 48 is dropped over stem 41 and a ring 44 screwed into place and gear 32 is then slid upon drum 3|. The same steps are taken with gears 33 and 34 and their pawls. A ring plate 49 is then fastened to the end of drum 3| to hold the assembled elements in place.

Normally each pawl is held in its inward or.

disengaged position by its spring 48, but when shaft 38 is turned so its uncutaway or cam portion 39 contacts one of thepawl'heads 46 that pawl is pushed outwardly against the pressure of its spring 48 and stem 41 projects thru ring 44 and beyond the outer surface of drum 3| sufficiently far for its properly formed end 45 to engage the end wall 50 of recess 5| cut in the inner surface of its respective gear wheel'32, 33 or 34 thus locking the selected gear to the drum 3| and shaft 30. When it is desired to change to neutral or to another speed, the shaft 38 is rotated and its cam part 39 is turned away from pawl head 46. The spring 48 together with the pressure exerted by the load on the tapered end 45 causes the pawl to become disengaged from its gear and permits the free rotation of the shaft to its selected angular position. This it does even when under heavy load as the driving force itself tends to push the pawl in. Only one gear can be engaged at a time as the eccentric on shaft 38 can only engage with one of the driving pawls at a time.

Keyed to the outer end of shaft 30 is a collar plate 36 having six hemispherical depressions 52 bored in its outer face and spaced apart 60 circumferentially. On the periphery of the collar plate 36 these impressions are indexed, three of them being lettered A, b, C and the others which alternate with the lettered depressions are marked N, meaning neutral. A is in alinement with the pawl which locks gear 34 to the drum 3| and shaft 30; b is in alinement with the pawl which locks gear 33, and C alines with the pawl which looks gear 32.

Keyed to the outer end of shaft 38 is a disk or dial 31 which carries on its inner face a single ball pawl 53 which is projected outwardly by a spring 54 seated behind the ball in a recess 55 for engagement with the selected depression in collar plate 36. On the periphery of disk 31 the marks on collar plate 36 are duplicated, consequently when disk 31 is turned, the uncutaway or cam portion 39 of shaft 38 is carried with it and may be brought into registration with the pawl which locks the desired gear or withany neutral point between the gear locking positions.

A pinion 35 is fixed to shaft 30 and is always in mesh with gear I1 fixed to clutch sleeve I6 mounted on shaft III.

Fig. '1 illustrates a modification that dispenses With a jack shaft, permitting a more compact and less expensive arrangement. In this construction gears I2 and 26 are unnecessary and are not used. vI-Iub II of worm gear 9 is extended and takes the place of spacing sleeve I5; gears 21, 2B and 29 which, in the form first described, were carried by jack shaft 25 are keyed to hub II of worm wheel 9 and the parts so positioned that gears 21, 28 and 29 are always in mesh with selective gears 32, 33 and 34 respectively, otherwise the two constructions are identical.

The operation is as follows: shaft 4 is driven and the worm 8 carried thereby drives worm 5 wheel 9. Worm wheel 9 has a pinion I2 fixed to its hub II which is always in mesh with gear 26 keyed to jack shaft 25. Gears 21, 28 and 29 which are also keyed to jack shaft 25 are always in mesh with selective gears 32, 33 and 34 respec- 10 tively which turn loosely upon drum 3| except when one of them is locked to drum 3| and shaft 30, then it turns shaft 30 to which pinion 35 is keyed, and as pinion 35 is always in mesh with gear I1 keyed to clutch sleeve I6, motion is com- 15 municated to the conveyor driving shaft I0 when clutch collar I9 is held fixed to shaft III by its shearing pin.-

To recapitulate, the advantages and features of this gear transmission are as follows:

The teeth of the gears are in mesh at all times, even when shifting to different speeds, which prevents the possibility of stripping any gears and also enables a standard tooth section to be used, and which is naturally stronger than a special tooth. The operator can shift from one speed to another with ease and without stopping the motor. It provides a positive and continuous drive for the coal screw when used in connection with a stoker and there is no chance of skipping any teeth.

We do not wish to be restricted to the exact construction shown and described but desire to cover all mechanisms within the scope of the claims since many variations may be made without departing from the invention. For instance, the shearing pin might be located any place in the gear train; for example, between gear I2 and 0 its shaft, the hub II of worm wheel 9; between gear 26 and its shaft 25, or between pinion 35 and its shaft 30, and the pawl mechanism might be located in shaft III or shaft 25.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a reduction gearing for stokers the combination of a driving shaft and means for driving it, a worm on the driving shaft, a worm wheel rotatably mounted upon the stoker conveyor shaft and in engagement with the worm on the driving 50 shaft said worm wheel having an extended hub,

a plurality of gears keyed to the hub of the worm wheel, a hollow shaft parallel with the stoker conveyor shaft, a drum upon the hollow shaft,

the drum and the hollow shaft having registering 5 holes therein, a plurality of spring retracted pawls located in the registering holes, a plurality of gears rotatably mounted upon the'drum each gear in registration with one of the pawls and having a recess in its inner edge having pawl engaging walls, a control cam rod in the hollow shaft, means on the outer end of the control cam rod to manipulate it and bring the cam into engagement with any selected pawl to project it beyond the periphery of the drum and lock the gear in registration therewith to the drum whereby the hollow shaft is rotated, a gear fixed to the hollow shaft, a bearing sleeve rotatably mounted upon the stoker conveyor shaft, a gear fixed to the bearing sleeve and meshing with the gear fixed to the hollow shaft, clutch teeth on the outer end of the bearing sleeve, a collar on the stoker conveyor shaft having cooperating clutch teeth in engagement with the clutch teeth of the bearing sleeve and a shearing pin passing through 75 registering holes in the stoker conveyor shaft and the collar.

2. In variable speed gearing the combination of a work shaft, a gear rotatably mounted upon the work shaft, a plurality of different size gears fixed to the hub of the gear on the work shaft, a hollow counter shaft, a drum rotatably mounted upon the hollow counter shaft the drum and the hollow counter shaft having a plurality of pawlcarrying registering holes, pawls in the holes, a plurality of gears on the drum registering with the pawls and meshing with the gears fixed to the hub, means within the hollow counter shaft to selectively project the pawls out of the holes in the drum to engage a gear thereon to lock the gear the drum and the counter shaft together, a

gear fixed upon the counter shaft, a second gear work shaft and means for driving the first gear 10 mentioned carried by the work shaft.

EDWARD G. BAER. ARTHUR B. FISHER. 

